Hi Folks, Appealing to the hardware-savvy anongst you!
I have an Advent 8117 laptop (nice machine, by the way), and one of the keys has popped off (the down-arrow key near the bottom right). For the life of me I can;t suss out how to put the key back on again.
The details are probably not specific to this particular machine -- they may well be identical on other makes and models, so if you recognise the description below and know how to put a key back on, I'll be pleased to hear!
The key itself has a kind of "trestle-like" hinged frame underneath it, whose function seems to be to keep the key-top level as it goes up and down. This is very tiny. It is presumably also intended to attach itself to something on the keyboard (see below).
The bed of the keyboard has a little rubber/plastic nipple which is pushed down by the key (and, lacking the key-top, I can operate it by pressing on the nipple).
Above and below this nipple are two lttle metal mountings, each with two little metal flanges projecting upwards. The two flanges on the top mounting have each a little notch near the keyboard bed, as if something is supposed to go in there. The two flanges on the bottom mounting also have a little notch each, in this case being directed somewhat upwards.
I guess that the "trestle" structure on the key-top is meant to somehow engage with the notches in the flanges as described above. However, no matter how I try to manipulate things, I can NOT get the key-top to re-attach!
I hope that's enough to describe the situation to Those Who Know. Looking forward to very simple and easy-to-execute instructions on how to put things together again!
With thanks, Ted.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) Ted.Harding@manchester.ac.uk Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 29-Mar-10 Time: 20:42:24 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------
Hi Ted,
Generally speaking the trestle should have stayed attached to the keyboard and the key pops of that, in that case you inspect the bottom of the key and you should see that one end of the pivot points on the backside of the keycap is a snap in design and the other end is a slide on design.
Then proper refitting is to slide the slide on end of the key to locate on one end of the trestle and then fairly firmly push the key downward (as if you were trying to press it) until you hear a click or two.
If the trestle has come off with the key then that indicates that either the metal pivot points on the keyboard baseplate are bent or one of the the tiny pins on the bottom side of the trestle that locate in them has snapped off.
In the former case I would normally remove the trestle (carefully) from the key and then reattach it to the baseplate of the keyboard, maybe by gently bending the metal pivot points so it can go in and stay in. Then refitting the key in the above manner.
In the later case you are going to have to find another similar (but not necessarily identical) keyboard to be a donor for an intact trestle.
In terms of orientating the trestle there should be only one way it could sit where it will lay completely flat and yet still hinge upwards, that gets it the right way round front to back, so all you have to worry about then is if it is upside down or not...sometimes the fixings are the same top and bottom (on both the key and keyboard ends of each arm) in which case it won't matter if you get it upside down..other times the top fixing is either a different size or different layout on either the key or the keyboard (or both) in those cases it again should be reasonably obvious which way round it wants to go.
Sorry that would be a lot easier to explain in pictures or in situ.
If it helps then mark the trestle in respect to how it is orientated on the key it is attached to before removing it.
Regards Wayne
On 29-Mar-10 21:03:55, Wayne Stallwood wrote:
Hi Ted, Generally speaking the trestle should have stayed attached to the keyboard and the key pops of that, in that case you inspect the bottom of the key and you should see that one end of the pivot points on the backside of the keycap is a snap in design and the other end is a slide on design.
Then proper refitting is to slide the slide on end of the key to locate on one end of the trestle and then fairly firmly push the key downward (as if you were trying to press it) until you hear a click or two.
If the trestle has come off with the key then that indicates that either the metal pivot points on the keyboard baseplate are bent or one of the the tiny pins on the bottom side of the trestle that locate in them has snapped off.
In the former case I would normally remove the trestle (carefully) from the key and then reattach it to the baseplate of the keyboard, maybe by gently bending the metal pivot points so it can go in and stay in. Then refitting the key in the above manner.
In the later case you are going to have to find another similar (but not necessarily identical) keyboard to be a donor for an intact trestle.
In terms of orientating the trestle there should be only one way it could sit where it will lay completely flat and yet still hinge upwards, that gets it the right way round front to back, so all you have to worry about then is if it is upside down or not...sometimes the fixings are the same top and bottom (on both the key and keyboard ends of each arm) in which case it won't matter if you get it upside down..other times the top fixing is either a different size or different layout on either the key or the keyboard (or both) in those cases it again should be reasonably obvious which way round it wants to go.
Sorry that would be a lot easier to explain in pictures or in situ.
If it helps then mark the trestle in respect to how it is orientated on the key it is attached to before removing it.
Regards Wayne
Many thanks for the commentary Wayne! As it happens, the trestle came off with the key. However, I have looked at it very closely, and can't see indication that anything has snapped off. Also, the pivot points look fine. The latter are quite close together, and appear to be positioned to line up with smalle apertures on the trestle. There's nothine broken around these small apertures.
I've tried taking a photo of it, but attempts have been out of focus so far.
Thanks for your comments too, Adam. I suspect your "pressing the key-cap down" solution is designed for the case where the trestle has remained attached to the keyboard base, and the key cap has become detached from the trestle. I've already tried putting the key (plus trestle) in place, and wiggling while pressing down gently. No success do far.
Ah well, when's the next Kit Meet? !! Ted.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) Ted.Harding@manchester.ac.uk Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 29-Mar-10 Time: 22:50:23 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------
On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 10:50:31PM +0100, Ted Harding wrote:
key-cap down" solution is designed for the case where the trestle has remained attached to the keyboard base, and the key cap has become detached from the trestle. I've already tried putting the
Aaah, in that case you might have to remove the trestle part from the keycap, refit it on the keyboard frame and then push the key top back on, certainly on some times of keyboard you can't put the keys back on until you do this.
Ah well, when's the next Kit Meet? !! Ted.
You could bring it to the next Norwich pubmeet on the 8th of April?
Adam
On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 08:42:27PM +0100, Ted Harding wrote:
I hope that's enough to describe the situation to Those Who Know. Looking forward to very simple and easy-to-execute instructions on how to put things together again!
It sounds like it is the type where you just put the keytop back and push straight down quite firmly until it clicks into place.
The other ones I've seen you kind of slide the key top down while pushing it down into place and it will clip, or of course it might be broken, just be gentle with it!
Or..... do you have a camera with a good macro mode on it and can take a photo or two for us?
Adam
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Adam Bower -
Ted.Harding＠manchester.ac.uk -
Wayne Stallwood